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Governor’s Veto Likely for Bill Lowering Income Taxes

A spokesman for Gov. Steve Bullock says the plan is fiscally irresponsible

By Dillon Tabish

HELENA — Montana’s Democratic governor is likely to veto a Republican plan to cut income taxes that is advancing through the Legislature.

The Republican-controlled Legislature is one vote away from sending House Bill 166, amended in the Senate earlier this week, to the governor’s office.

Republican Rep. Keith Regier’s proposal would cut all income tax brackets by 0.2 percent. “The Senate, in their wisdom, changed it from one-tenth to two-tenths of a percent, and I concur with that,” Regier said ahead of a party-line 59-41 vote in the House Thursday.

A spokesman for Gov. Steve Bullock says the plan is fiscally irresponsible and that the governor will not support such legislation. “Republican legislators have proposed legislation that would leave our state deep in debt, forcing cuts in education, public safety and health care,” Bullock’s Communications Director Dave Parker said in a statement.

Democratic lawmakers say a tax cut ahead of a revenue projection is premature.

Democratic Rep. Tom Woods of Bozeman said the bill is a political attempt to vilify the governor. HB 166 is not about economics, Woods said, but about politics that are also played on the national level in Washington, D.C. “We will not catch the D.C. measles,” he said.

Regier has argued that larger income tax cuts were successful in 2003. Those cuts came with sales tax increases, which are not included in Regier’s bill or other income tax cuts proposed by Republicans this session.

Senate Bill 200 to similarly cut income taxes survived the Senate on Feb. 14. House Bill 169 to lower individual state income tax liability and create a non-refundable credit for property tax passed out of the House on Feb. 5.

In 2013, Bullock vetoed two bills that would lower individual and corporate income taxes and one to lower property taxes for certain pollution equipment.